First Scots Day of Giving raises over $150,000 for students

April 28, 2017

Students, faculty, and alumni came together for the first annual Scots Day of Giving to celebrate Monmouth College’s 164th birthday. Officially founded on April 18th, 1853, Scots Day was appropriately celebrated through an 18-hour and 53-minute challenge to raise money towards continuing the legacy and traditions of the Fighting Scots.

“We titled it Scots Day of Giving as ‘Scots Day’ used to be a big event for alums on campus,” said Director of Alumni Engagement Hannah Maher. “It’s still a wonderful day but it’s kind of taken on a new meaning after being renamed ‘Scholar’s Day.’ We wanted to revive it but in a different way; A way of giving back and supporting the college.”

The event was led by Maher and members of the Alumni Office and kicked off bright and early at 5 a.m. with a special bagpipe performance of “Scotland the Brave” on the April Zorn Memorial Stadium. The initial goal of the day was to attain at least 164 donors to celebrate the age of the college. This goal was quickly crushed in less than 5 hours. The next donor goal was raised to 309 for Monmouth’s area code and then 418 for the date of founding, but both numbers were blown away by 7 p.m. The final goal was set to be 514 donors to celebrate the day of this year’s commencement. The final results of the day were recorded at 11:53 p.m. and were the most one-day donations the college has ever received.

Other activities during the day included a Facebook Live event every hour which included interviews with students and faculty, and an ice cream social held on Dunlap Terrace that helped bring together the student body and bring awareness to the event.

Any current students that donated at least $5 was entered in a raffle for prizes donated from another alumnus that included an iPhone 7, $100 gift cards, a Fitbit, and more.

In total, Scots Day of Giving received a grand total of $168,392 from 533 donors from all over the country.

“We are thankful for all the support we received throughout Scots Day. It’s such a testament to how the College community feels about Monmouth,” said Maher. “I can’t wait to see what Scots Day 2018 holds.”